Computers and computing devices have become ubiquitous in our society. Their presence has both raised productivity and increased the quality of life. One feature that has allowed computing devices to become so valuable is portability. Many of these computing devices, such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and self-contained computer games are designed to be portable and thus a single device can be carried by a user and used in different locations. This creates many design challenges to ensure the reliability of the computing devices.
Computing devices are being designed to ever-smaller dimensions in order to increase their portability. While the smaller devices can be convenient for transport, the size can be problematic when a user actually uses the device. The smaller computing devices often have less space to allocate for user input devices, which has often resulted in input devices that are less user friendly. Additionally, traditional input devices like a mouse can be inconvenient, as the mouse is generally detached and stored separately when the computing device is transported. It must then be reattached before use.
Accordingly, this invention arose out of concerns associated with providing improved input device systems and methods.